Considering the turmoil from the spring of 2009, the seven-game improvement of the DSL Nationals to a winning season of 36-35 has to be considered progress. But perhaps more promising is that this was done with a crew that was younger than the year before (yes, even with “Smiley”) — the average batter was 18.9 years old, the average pitcher was 19.3 years old; a year ago, those figures were 19.3 and 19.7. Still more than the league averages (18.4, 18.8) but better than two years ago (19.3, 21.2).

As I ease into metaphorically big shoes of Mr. Oliver, let me also disclose fully that I’m modeling this review (and future reviews) after the ones he did back in ’07, which were the first ones I found while rummaging through his online morgue. Without further ado…

HITTING

TEAM

AB

R

H

HR

BB

SO

AVG

OBP

SLG

GPA*

SB

D-Nats

2246

312

534

14

274

459

.238

.338

.305

.228

110

Lg. Avg.

2184

301

512

15

275

481

.235

.334

.311

.228

99

*GPA = Gross Production Average. This is a stat that Aaron Gleeman invented several years ago that corrects the two problems with OPS: (1) it corrects the imbalance between OBP and SLG (simply put, OBP is about 80% more valuable) and (2) it puts it on a scale that everyone is familiar with (same as batting average). I like it because it’s relatively easily to calculate — (1.8*OBP plus SLG)/4 — compared to similar sabermetric exercises (wOBA, EqA) and achieves the purpose of an all-encompassing offensive stat nearly as well.

PITCHING

TEAM

IP

ERA

R/G

WHIP

HR

BB

SO

H/9IP

BB/9IP

K/9IP

K/BB

D-Nats

606.1

3.55

4.58

1.351

16

272

541

8.1

4.0

8.0

1.99

Lg. Avg.

590.1

3.39

4.27

1.333

15

275

481

7.8

4.2

7.3

1.75

As you might expect from a .507 team, the D-Nats were slightly above average on offense and slightly below average on pitching with the notable exception of strikeouts and walks, categories in which the Nationals were in the top third of the league.

Given the nature of the league, playing time is much more spread out but for the purposes of displaying who’s who, I’m using defensive games to determine “starters” and the 100AB mark as the cutoff for the bench. The full statistics for the team can be found here.

Position

Name

Age

G/GP

Fld%

Err

PA

GPA

Catcher

Adderling Ruiz

19

46/49

.978

8

153

.197

First Base

Jean Carlos Valdez

17

25/60

.978

8

237

.228

Second Base

Nelalexfred Ortega

17

63/63

.964

10

272

.204

Third Base

Bienvenido Valdez

19

38/62

.893

12

245

.275

Shortstop

Wilmer Difo

20

44/45

.911

20

169

.201

Left Field

Jose Arismendy

17

39/51

.980

3

156

.183

Center Field

Edgar Gonzalez

??

53/59

.976

2

223

.256

Right Field

Narciso Mesa

??

45/58

.966

2

213

.193

Utility (1B, 2B, SS)

“Smiley” Alvarez

24

14, 4, 24

.966

9

234

.320

Bench (1B, LF)

Victor Chavez

21

3, 19

.850

3

167

.293

Bench (C, 1B)

Paul Chacin

19

21, 13

.983

4

167

.244

I’m just as troubled as you might be to see those two “??” in the age column. Defensively, you can see that 1B, 3B, and C were a little bit of a merry-go-round in terms of playing time (fielding percentages are for the primary position only for the starters, the bench players are cumulative. Second base was the only stalwart, so it may be safe to say that “Fred” Ortega may be stateside by 2012 at the latest.

On to the pitchers, listing the top 12 in terms of innings pitched…

PLAYER

AGE

G/GS

W-L, SV

ERA

IP

H

BB

SO

WHIP

HBP

WP

Antonio Guzman

22

14/13

4-5, 1

3.36

83

74

27

81

1.217

13

15

Wirkin Estevez

18

15/14

6-7, 0

2.61

82⅔

74

12

95

1.040

5

8

Silvio Medina

20

13/11

5-4, 0

3.06

67⅔

68

19

46

1.286

9

7

Adalberto Mieses

20

13/12

3-3, 1

2.98

63⅓

57

33

40

1.421

5

7

Anthony Marcelino

17

14/7

0-2, 0

3.20

45

34

20

24

1.200

5

13

Inocencio Heredia

??

26/0

3-3, 10

1.69

37⅓

24

11

34

0.938

6

4

Wander Suero

18

15/4

2-3, 0

4.72

34⅓

35

23

39

1.689

1

7

Jorge Hernandez

20

13/0

2-1, 4

2.05

30⅔

21

9

38

0.978

1

1

Andy Santana

19

13/1

5-0, 0

1.27

28⅓

19

14

24

1.165

0

1

Juan “Slim” Diaz

19

7/6

2-4, 0

5.74

26⅔

25

10

28

1.312

4

5

Jesus Guzman

19

18/6

1-1, 0

3.43

21

18

18

23

1.714

3

3

Saskuel Herrera

20

18/6

1-0, 1

4.32

16⅔

19

11

13

1.800

0

11

The too-old criticism may be valid here as it appears that only Wirkin Estevez and Anthony Marcelino will be Viera-bound in ’11, though the obvious caveat that perhaps one or two of the 19-year-olds may have that intangible that we can’t see from a box score (which is the caveat that applies to all of this review). Inocencio Heredia was a constant in our daily reports but the lack of a DOB has to raise a red flag.

OBLIGATORY TOP FIVE LISTS
Having seen these players as much as Rush Limbaugh has seen his name on college diploma, I present the five batters and pitchers to watch in ’11 with the full knowledge that I’m doing exactly what I hate: basing my judgment solely on stats and boxscores.

Our final 2010 look at the leaders, trailers, and outliers in the Washington Nationals minor leagues, with a focus on the level where the prospects shone the brightest, not counting some guy who made a tour for service-time reasons (*ahem*).